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Animal Age

How old does a West Indian manatee get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a West Indian manatee reaches?

An adult West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) usually gets as old as 30 years.

West Indian manatees are around 334 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 29.62 kg (65.3 lbs) and measure 12.5 cm (0′ 5″). As a member of the Trichechidae family (genus: Trichechus), their offspring is 1 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 3.5 meter (11′ 6″).

As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.

A West Indian manatee gets as old as 30 years

The West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus) or “sea cow”, also known as North American manatee, is the largest surviving member of the aquatic mammal order Sirenia (which also includes the dugong and the extinct Steller’s sea cow). It is further divided into two subspecies, the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and the Antillean or Caribbean manatee (T. m. manatus), based on genetic and morphological studies. The Florida subspecies is primarily found along the coasts of Florida, but its range extends as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts. The Antillean subspecies has a sparse distribution throughout the Caribbean, ranging as far north as Mexico and as far south as Brazil.Manatees are obligate herbivores, have developed vocal communication abilities, and are covered in highly sensitive vibrissae that are used for feeding and navigation. In breeding season, several males form mating herds around an individual female; on average, one calf is born to a female manatee every two to three years.The West Indian manatee was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in the 1970’s, when there were only several hundred left, and the decades since have witnessed significant efforts by federal, state, private, and nonprofit organizations to protect these species from natural and human-induced threats, particularly collisions with watercraft. On March 30, 2017, the US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the federal reclassification of the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened, citing a substantial increase in the total population.

Animals of the same family as a West Indian manatee

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Trichechidae):

Animals that reach the same age as West Indian manatee

With an average age of 30 years, West Indian manatee are in good companionship of the following animals:

Animals with the same number of babies West Indian manatee

The same number of babies at once (1) are born by:

Weighting as much as West Indian manatee

A fully grown West Indian manatee reaches around 467.16 kg (1029.91 lbs). So do these animals:

Animals as big as a West Indian manatee

Those animals grow as big as a West Indian manatee: